Advice - AA and ANA First experiences

[juddles]

Hi there all,

although I fly lots, it is usually the same old routes, and am thus jaded. But next month I have two totally different experiences coming up, and in the way that pre-flight pondering of new horizons does, I am actually keen about these and want to maximise the experience.

Essentially I have two new-for-me flights coming up - both First class - MIA-LHR on an American Airlines 777, and then LHR-HND on an ANA 777.

Am not rich, any rare F long-haul travel is always a luxury for me. These flights I scored a long time ago pulling various tricks. Never flown ANA nor AA in international First.

Was wondering if anyone had any experiences / tips for these specific flights. (Everything and anything from lounges to seat selection) And what to do in HND for 5 hours (arrive on ANA, leave on QF on separate ticket)

Has been a while since I have felt enthusiastic about upcoming flights, so any little scrap that helps feed me is much appreciated

 

[juddles]

In case this affects anything, some data points:

AA F ticket MIA-LHR was purchased with cash via BA
ANA F ticket LHR-HND was obtained with Lifemiles
Exit HND on QF J ticket
Am P1 with QF, Star Alliance Gold via Avianca, and nothing directly with AA or ANA

 

[RooFlyer]

Hmmmm ... I've have just been through HND, but with JAL (LHR-HND (30 hours) HND-HKG). Looks like you are not proposing to go landside? Unless you get a taxi, you couldn't go anywhere useful in 5 hours - the train service into the city is a two-change, separate lines affair.

HND I found surprisingly modern and very efficient, but I didn't see anything very diverting, like you'd find at SIN. Standard concourses with shops and lounges.

The AA Flagship Lounge at MIA is good (for an American Lounge) and you should get access to the 'Fine Dining' area, as long as your AFF Emerald status is in the booking (this is by invitation, issued I think at time of check-in; ask them about if they don't give it to you). Edit: F should get it anyway, although AA do have those funny lounge access rules! Rely on Emerald status for best results.

Are you transiting or going landsite at LHR? If going through immigration, beware the 'fast track' immigration. I've been sucked into it twice, where it was much slower than the regular line, which is long, but has many agents working it. There were 2 agents working the fast track line and both got stuck, often, with 'problem cases and the whY people from my flight were through immigration LONG before I was.

BTW, JAL B777 J (and, presumably First) might be for you! I couldn't touch the ends of the bed stretched out and heaps of space in the foot well

Please do take some pics of the ANA First lounge and on-board (AA too, if you can be bothered )

 

[MEL_Traveller]

The major problem with ANA is the length of the bed I'm 6'3 and the bed was about 4-5 inches too short. While the 'square' looks long(ish), there's a rounded partition at the rear once the seat is reclined which takes up a lot of space. Aside from that, they have a weird seat design with a side partition by your head... great for privacy in the centre seats, but they carried it forward to the window seats and it totally blocks the view out of two windows, leaving you with a big stretch forward to see out of the third.

Service - well. You may or may not have a good english speaking crew. Out of London it might be a bit better. On my flight from FRA it was very basic (they assigned an english speaking crew member to set me up before take-off... PJs, drink etc), but they went to work in the main cabins during flight. It's not a major issue, but noticeable.

Amenity kit is top notch! Someone calculated the value of the cosmetic contents to over USD100 (the small sizes pro-rated from the standard retail size). PJs are good.

Food - well. It was ok. Nothing remarkable. The caviar course is still available, but it's now part of one of the Western entree courses. So you need to order that course to get a bit of caviar on the side.

IFE is woeful. The choice was limited in every way... albums only had 6 or so tracks. Movies were limited. Box sets of TV shows only had a few episodes of each. Take your own!

Overall I gave the flight about a 4/10. But I had high expectations going in. I don't want to be a downer on this one...but hopefully if you go in with managed expectations you'll have a better flight than going in with high expectations and being disappointed.

LM charges the same from the USA to Asia as it does from Europe to Asia. If you had the opportunity you could refund your AA ticket and get say lufthansa F all the way from MIA-HND on LM.

 

[drron]

We flew ANA F IAH-NRT and loved it.I am just 6 foot and the bed was fine for me.Row 2 window seats are easier to see out than row 1.We were the only 2 in F and assigned the middle pair of seats but told we could sit anywhere so for take off I was in 2A.
We had no problems with the FAs-very good English and excellent service.I had the Japanese meal which again was excellent but allowed to start with the caviar.
We used LM for this and have another ANA LM F award in ~ 2 weeks SFO-NRT.

Our last AA F was ~ 3 years ago but was MIA-LHR.I am probably one of the few who enjoy AA premium cabins in long haul.Ours were always awards or SWUs to be in the F cabin.Mainly we flew NRT-DFW and return.On all but 2 of our flights we had the same purser-a Hawaiian named Danno-hard to forget.Obviously we became well known and the service was really good.
AA F food-not the same quality as Asian airlines but isn't too bad.Usually a good selection of wines.
I find the AA 773 F seat to be excellent.I find it the easiest to sleep in.The set up if you want to work I also like.
The reason we aren't flying them now is no F cabins to Asia and awards for 2 much harder to come by.

 

[juddles]

Thanks for all the feedback, especially informative that about short seats in ANA - I am a pitiful over-tall person.

This obviously makes my expectations a bit more real, but in any case, am just happy I get to experience a couple of new F long haul products

Am actually looking forward to my time at HND in the terminal. After perpetual mainly SYD /SCL / BOG stuff, am hoping it will be interesting, even just for cultural reasons (ie seeing how people behave, what general services are like / cleanliness / order etc etc.

A question that suddenly springs to mind is my checked bag. As I am two separate tickets, different airlines, I might assume I will have to clear customs and collect bag, then go to QF to check in for next flight. Any ideas how long before departure I can check in for that QF flight? Otherwise I hope there are luggage storage options landside?

 

[drron]

Not necessarily.I was on a SQ award SIN-LAX and they could check it to PHX which was on a separate paid AA ticket.Of course you still had to pick it up in LAX.So I would ask at checkin.

 

[Finale]

I flew HND-ORD in 2016. ANA window seat is weird. The box design blocks the windows and I had to lean forward to look out. I think I could only pick Western set or Japanese set. I liked their famous curry best (in the menu you can order anytime during the flight). Amenity kit was great with the expensive The Ginza products. The crew were attentive even though they couldn't understand me much. (My English wasn't that good to start with ha).

AA LAX-SYD on the way back. Looking at their business class, I think their F seat was not a big step up. Food was so so but the crew were awesome. They were so much better than Qantas crew (well based on only 2 F flights with QF).

At HND, there is a shopping mall (called Market place I think) attached to Terminal 2 which you could get there by a free shuttle bus. There are shops and restaurants which are better than inside the airport. There is a luggage storage at both departure and arrival. There are also coin lockers at probably almost all Japanese airports and train stations. The price will be similar. I think QF checkin opens 3 hours before the flight.